CIREN

CIRENCESTER TOWN 0-0 THATCHAM TOWN

Southern League Division 1 South and West

Saturday 12th December 2009

Corinium Stadium

The day had been planned for sometime to visit a good friend in Cheltenham, who happens to be a season ticket holder down @ Whaddon Road. This Saturday was chosen because of Cheltenham being away at Chesterfield and withi it I found three non-league games that took my fancy, all of which were in different leagues and also all were within thirty minutes drive of said friends house.

The drive down was pretty much uneventful until reaching the last island on the Stratford by-pass when I went into the back of a silver Audi - not much damage done just annoying. Drama over and I arrived at around 11am and we discussed which of the three games we would choose. The options were:

Cirencester Town v Thatcham Town (Southern League)

Cheltenham Saracens v Wootton Bassett Town (Hellenic League)

Kings Stanley v Axa (Gloucestershire County League)

In the end we decided on the first option and made our way down to Cirencester which would give us enough time to look round the town centre and have some lunch in one of the pubs. Cirencester is a pleasant small town on the southern edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire and we managed to kill a couple of hours which included having lunch in The Crown. The Corinium Stadium is on the edge of Cirencester and has a rural feel about it but I don't know when they moved into the ground but it appeared to be fairly new. Having paying the £8 admission money (which in my opinion is steep for the 8th level of football in England) and £1.50 for a programme we made our way into the bar / clubhouse. The club did have badges on sale for £3, one of course was purchased for my metal collection along with a pint. of San Miguel for £2.75. There is two lots of seating in the ground, both of which straddle the half way lines on opposite sides of the pitch. The one on the clubhouse side appeared to be for club officials only, while behine the far goal there is a small covered area in the form of a lean to which is connected to the boundary wall. 

The game itself was pretty uneventful with the first 15-20 minutes being the most entertaining. Ciren came close within a couple of minutes while Thatcham tried to play on the counter attack, but in the end the defences dominated and the game became a midfield battle. Both teams gave it a go but could not break each other down and ended up cancelling each other out. The game was delayed for around fifteen minutes midway through the second half when the referee was replaced - not the best on a cold afternoon. When the game did resume it carried on in much the same fashion, though the home side did have a goal ruled out towards the end. It was a relief to hear the final whistle and get the heat on in the car to warm up. 

Overall a forgettable game that will not live long in the memory. Nice ground though.

Attendance: 137 (source Non-League paper)